Abstract
The purpose of the chapter is to determine how open distance learning (ODL) can achieve the goals of social justice in a developing context, keeping the related challenges and achievements in mind, with specific reference to the University of South Africa (UNISA). Equity in higher education is seen as a human right for all citizens to have a fair opportunity to develop their potential. ODL has the potential to provide access to students who would otherwise have been excluded from higher education. However, because of a diverse student profile, not all students have access to digital technology, which can lead to new forms of injustices. Within a critical research paradigm, the research used a case study design and document analysis to gather data. The findings show that with the needed support and guidance, ODL has the potential to be a key vehicle in addressing access to higher education for all. With specific reference to UNISA, the findings show that the institution has made progress in achieving digital access and social justice, although it should be seen as a process that still needs progress and monitoring. A cautionary picture is, therefore, painted, particularly regarding the lived reality of digital equity and social justice in a developing world context.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alabi, J. (2019, December 12). Open and distance learning—Making transformation happen. University World News. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20191204111947625
Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. A report prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education. Paris, France: United Nations Educational.
Asma, A. D. (2020, April 15). Covid-19: Universities prepare to switch to remote online learning. TimesLive. Retrieved June 10, 2020, from https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-04-15-covid-19-universities-prepare-to-switch-to-remote-online-learning/
Bell, L. (2016). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. In M. Adam, L. A. Bell, D. J. Goodman, & K. Y. Joshi (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor and Francis.
Bomah, K. B. (2014). Digital divide: Effects on education development in Africa. Retrieved June 13, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275350414_Digital_Divide_Effects_on_Education_Development_in_Africa
Botha, J. (2016). Digital equity and social justice: Whose reality? In S. Barker, S. Dawson, A. Pardo, & C. Colvin (Eds.), Show me the learning. Proceedings ASCILITE 2016 Adelaide (pp. 76–85).
Bradwell, P. (2009). The edgeless university. London, UK: Demos.
Chetty, D., Chisholm, L., Mkwanazi, Z., Motala, S., & Tickly, L. (1993). Competing strategies: The ERS and NEPI options. Indicator South Africa, 10, 49–64.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.). London, UK: Routledge.
Commonwealth of Learning. (2015). Open and distance learning: Key terms and definitions. Retrieved January 19, 2020, from http://oasis.col.org/bitstream/handle/11599/829/Definitions_ODL%20key%20terms_20150522.pdf?sequence=4http://www.col.org/ODLIntro/introODL.htm
Dans, E. (2020, May 19). Why 2020 will be online education’s biggest year. Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2020/05/19/why-2020-will-be-online-educations-biggestyear/#3ce5e6057eca
DeCarlo, M. (2018). Scientific inquiry in social work. Retrieved June 10, 2020, from https://scientificinquiryinsocialwork.pressbooks.com/front-matter/copyright-information-and-attributions-index/
Etheridge, J. (2020, January 12). You’ve qualified for access to higher education—But that’s only the start, say experts. News 24.
Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: Culture, power and liberation. New York, NY: Bergin and Garvey.
Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
Gaba, A. K. (2004). Cost analysis in open and distance learning. New Delhi, India: Indira Ghandi National Open University. Retrieved June 11, 2020, from http://www.ignou.ac.in
Gerwitz, S., & Gribb, A. (2002). Plural conceptions of social justice: Implication for policy sociology. Journal of Education Policy, 17, 499–599.
Green, A., Preston, J., & Jamaat, J. G. (2006). Education, equity and social cohesion. A comparative analysis. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Habermas, J. (1972). Knowledge and human interest. London, UK: Heinemann.
Hege, B. A. R. (2011). The online theology classroom: Strategies for engaging a community of distance learners in a hybrid model of online education. Teaching Theology and Religion, 14(1), 13–20.
Levin, B. (2003). Approaches to equity in policy for lifelong learning. In B. Levin (Ed.), Thinking about equity in lifelong learning. Winnipeg, Canada: Equity in Education.
Magaji, S., & Adelabu, J. S. A. (2012). Cost-benefit of E-learning under ODL of developing economies. Journal of the Open University of Tanzania, 13(2), 107–122.
Makhanya, M., Mays, T., & Ryan, P. (2013). Beyond access: Tailoring ODL provision to advance social justice and development. South African Journal for Higher Education, 27(6), 1384–1400.
McKane, J. (2020). UNISA online exam problems—Faulty hardware and server overload. Mybroadband. Retrieved June 12, 2020, from https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cloud-hosting/356041-unisa-online-exam-problems-faulty-hardware-and-server-overload.html
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded source book (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mitchell, N. (2020, June 9). Universities not ready for online learning. University World News. Retrieved June 10, 2020, from universityworldnews.com
Mnguni, L. (2020, April 8). Online learning in lockdown is far from ideal. Mail and Guardian. Retrieved June 12, 2020, from https://mg.co.za/article/2020-04-08-online-learning-in-lockdown-is-far-from-ideal/
Moja, T., Luescher, T., & Schreiber, B. (2015). Equity in social justice in higher education. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 3(2), v–xii., 2307-6267. https://doi.org/10.14426/jsaa.v3i2.131
Morrow, W. (2007). Learning to teach in South Africa. Pretoria, South Africa: HSRC Press. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Mossberger, K. (2003). Digital inequality: Beyond the digital divide. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Mphaphuli, T. (2019a). The National Development Plan five years on. UNISA: Internal e-notice, 2019-10-08. Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https://www.UNISA.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/News-&-Media/Articles/The-National-Development-Plan-five-years-on
Mphaphuli, T. (2019b). UNISA is a leading contributor to the SA graduates pool. UNISA: Internal e-notice 2019-11-28. Retrieved January 17, 2020, from https://www.UNISA.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/News-&-Media/Articles/UNISA-is-a-leading-contributor-to-the-SA-graduates-pool
National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI). (1992). Support Services. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Ngubane-Mokiwa, S. A. (2017). Implications of the University of South Africa’s (UNISA) shift to open distance e-learning on teacher education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(9), 111–124.
Nguyen, H., & Pham, T. (2020, May 16). Is COVID-19 an opportunity to strengthen online teaching? University World News.
Otto, H., & Ziegler, H. (2006). Capabilities and education. Social Work and Society, 4(2). Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https://www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/158/549
RSA. (1996). The South African constitution. Pretoria, South Africa: Government Printers.
RSA. (2014). Statistics on post-school education and training in South Africa: 2014. Released March 2016. Department of Higher Education and Training. Republic of South Africa.
RSA. (2016). Social cohesion and social justice in South Africa table of contents. Retrieved January 10, 2020, from www.thepresidency.gov.za/docs/pcsa/social/social/part1.pdf
RSA. (2020). Let’s grow South Africa together. Retrieved June 11, 2020, from www.gov.za/services/tertiary-education
Sehoole, C., & Adeyemo, K. (2016). Access to, and success in, higher education in post-apartheid South Africa: Social justice analysis. Journal of Higher Education in Africa/Revue De L’enseignement Supérieur En Afrique, 14(1), 1–18. Retrieved June 11, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/90016098
Shachar, M., & Neumann, Y. (2003). Differences between traditional and distance education academic performances: A meta-analytic approach. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v4i2.153
Shay, S. (2020, May 3). Online remote teaching in higher education is not the problem. Daily Maverick. Retrieved June 11, 2020, https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-05-03-online-remote-teaching-in-higher-education-is-not-the-problem/#gsc.tab=0
Solomon, G., Allen, N. J., & Resta, P. (Eds.). (2003). Towards digital equity: Bridging the divide in education. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Group.
Statistics South Africa. (2019). South Africa’s Education statistics. Retrieved September 14, 2019, from https://www.southafricanmi.com/education-statistics.html
Steel, C. (2018). 5 ways the digital divide effects education. Retrieved June 13, 2020, from http://www.digitaldividecouncil.com/digital-divide-effects-on-education/
Swan, K. (2002). Building learning communities in online courses: The importance of interaction. Education, Communication and Information, 2(1), 23–49.
Tjabane, M., & Pillay, V. (2011). Doing justice to social justice in South African Higher Education. Perspectives in Education, 29(2), 10–18.
UNESCO. (2002). Open and distance learning trends, policy and strategy considerations. Paris. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000128463
UNESCO. (n.d.). Education transforms lives. Retrieved June 2, 2020 from https://en.unesco.org/themes/education
UNISA. (2018). Open distance e-Learning policy. Pretoria, South Africa: UNISA.
UNISA. (2019). The leading ODL university. Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/About/The-leading-ODL-university
UNISA. (2020). Open education resources: UNISA & OER. Retrieved June 12, 2020, from https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/c.php?g=355663&p=2399098
Van den Berg, G. (2020). Context matters: Student experiences of interaction in open distance learning. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 21(3) (in print).
Van der Merwe, P. (2019). Major ICT boost for UNISA students as first laptops are issued. UNISA: Internal e-notice 2019-04-04. Retrieved January 17, 2020, from https://www.UNISA.ac.za/sites/myUNISA/default/News/Articles/Major-ICT-boost-for-UNISA-students-as-first-laptops-are-issued
Waghid, Z. (2014). (Higher) education for social justice through sustainable development, economic development and equity. South African Journal for Higher Education, 28(4), 1448–1463.
Weidlich, J., & Bastiaens, T. J. (2018). Technology matters—The impact of transactional distance on satisfaction in online distance learning. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(3), 222–242.
Wilson-Strydom, M. (2011). University access for social justice: A capabilities perspective. South African Journal of Education, 31, 407–418.
World Bank. (n.d.). World development indicators. Retrieved on June 3, 2020, from https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators
World Development Report. (2016). Digital dividends. Retrieved September 21, 2019, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr 20161
World Economic Forum. (2018). The global competitiveness report 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2019, from eports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2018/
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
van den Berg, G. (2021). The Role of Open Distance Learning in Addressing Social Justice: A South African Case Study. In: Pearson Jr., W., Reddy, V. (eds) Social Justice and Education in the 21st Century. Diversity and Inclusion Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65417-7_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65417-7_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-65416-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-65417-7
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)